The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN) have joined with Northwestel Inc. to submit a request for proposals to provide expanded cell phone service in the Yukon.

The partnership with the first nation is being facilitated by Dakwakada Development Corp. (DDC).

'We think it's a really exciting project,' Kevin Sullivan, general manager for Dakwakada, said Tuesday. 'It's a really big deal to have cell phone service even in these little hamlet communities.'

The service would serve 17 communities in the Yukon, including Whitehorse, Dawson City and Watson Lake.

'This partnership reflects on the main reasons why CAFN reestablished DDC, which is to find ways of sustainability for the CAFN, through our own source revenues,' Chief James Allan said in a press release Monday.

Increasing investment in profitable business ventures is important to the first nations, said Sullivan.

Dakwakada will not just bring capital and management expertise to the project, but will also be able to bring it back to a grassroots level, he added.

'It's important to stay in touch with your customer base.'

Ice Wireless was also identified during the request for qualifications phase and has submitted a proposal.

Calls to Ice Wireless were not returned.

The cell phone project is part of Mobile Communications Solutions (MoCS), which will include the public safety radio system to used by the RCMP, health and safety professionals, public safety volunteers and other government personnel.

The procurement process is being facilitated by Partnerships BC, which is a Crown-owned corporation in British Columbia that has been involved in securing public-private partnership (P3) projects for that government in the past.

P3s are agreements between the government and the private sector, usually for the purpose of providing public infrastructure.

Partnerships BC advised the Yukon government on the recently indefinitely-delayed Dawson City bridge over the Yukon River. The bridge was meant to be used as a pilot project to develop a policy on how to implement P3s in the Yukon.

The YTG is paying Partnerships BC $240,000 in advising costs for the MoCS project. But the government has so far maintained that MoCS will not necessarily be implemented as a P3.

It will not be the government nor Partnerships BC that decides if this project will be a P3, said Darren Butt, communications advisor with the Department of Highways and Public Works.

It will be the proponents and their proposal models that will determine if the government goes forward with the project as a P3, he said.

The RFPs for the cell phone segment of the project were received on Monday. Butt was unable to say when the review of the proposals would conclude but indicated it would be forthcoming.

A press release by CAFN indicates they are expecting to hear a decision in October.

Sullivan said Dakwakada and Northwestel are hopeful their partnership may win them the contract.

There are points awarded for Yukon content, said Sullivan, and the partnership may bolster their bid a little bit.

The amounts of the bids will not be released, said Butt, due to confidentiality issues. However, the amount attached to the winning contract will be made public.

No announcement has yet been made on when further information will be provided on the public safety radio system, despite a press release on Aug. 1 that indicated details would be available in the 'near future.'